Near-perfect accuracy with layer-picking system

GRIMSBY, Ontario—Cimcorp is claiming near 100-percent picking capability with its robotic layer-picking system.

Cimcorp’s layer pick system consists of a heavy-duty clamping and vacuum-based tool and a large, fast gantry robot. These tools can be used together or independently with variable force and vacuum strength based on the SKU to be handled. For products that require mainly the clamping force, multiple layers can be picked at one time to increase efficiency and ease of product picking. The layer pick system is ideally suited for facilities that pick more than 1,000 layers per day from 50-500 SKUs.

Doug Pickard, president, North America, Cimcorp, said, “The success of a distribution centre is reliant upon the speed at which it can get its products to its customers. Because many retail outlets look to stock more variety and fewer quantities of each product, it is vital for warehouses to quickly and accurately fulfill incoming orders and keep store shelves stocked. Cimcorp’s layer pick system has the ability to pick a near limitless variety of products, access a large volume of inventory with a single machine, and create customer orders in any sequence desired.  Some of our customers are also using this unique feature to directly load pallets into trailers, which eliminates the need for staging orders on the dock.”

Cimcorp began using the layer picking technology in the beverage industry and has since enhanced the tooling to handle anything from standard corrugate cases to shrink wrap products, bottles, tubs and open trays. Cimcorp’s layer pick solution stages every SKU that is picked in layer quantities within the work envelope of the gantry robot. Moving the replenishment load only once to a staging location and picking from that location eliminates any risk of moving unwrapped or unstable product to a stationary layer picking device.

The solution uses a built-in Warehouse Management System (WMS) that can collect order information from a customer host system, and use customer stacking rules and picking sequences to build customized order pallets. The Cimcorp WMS also maintains a database that tracks every move of each case, including lot information, and can report all activities and traceability back to the customer.